War veterans celebrate during the live broadcast from the International War Crimes Tribunal, on Zagreb's main square

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Appeal judges at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal have overturned the convictions of two Croat generals for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against Serb civilians in a 1995 military blitz.

Neither Ante Gotovina nor Mladen Markac showed any emotion at the decision today, but their supporters in the court’s packed public gallery cheered and clapped as Presiding Judge Theodor Meron ordered both men freed immediately.

Gotovina and Markac were sentenced to 24 and 18 years respectively in 2011 for crimes including murder and deportation. Judges ruled both men were part of a criminal conspiracy led by former Croat president Franjo Tudjman to expel Serbs.

But appeals judges said no such conspiracy existed.

The decision is one of the most significant reversals in the court’s 18-year history and overturns a verdict that dealt a blow to Croatia’s self-image as a victim of atrocities, rather than a perpetrator, during the Balkan wars in the 1990s.

War veterans celebrate the overturning of convictions for two Croat generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac

The generals are expected to quickly return to Croatia after their release

Judges ruled Gotovina and Markac were part of a criminal conspiracy led by former Croat president Franjo Tudjman to expel Serbs.

But the appeals judges said prosecutors failed to prove the existence of such a conspiracy, effectively clearing Croatia’s entire wartime leadership of war crimes in the operation known as Operation Storm.

While supporters of the generals at home in Croatia cheered and set off fireworks, the acquittals will enrage hardline opponents of the UN court in Serbia who accuse its judges of anti-Serb bias.

Some 600 Serbs were killed and more than 200,000 were driven from their homes during the operation.

Gotovina’s and Markac’s convictions were two of the few at the tribunal set up in 1994 to punish perpetrators of atrocities against Serb civilians.